Part 16:

Murdock slowly and quietly crept down the lower limbs of the tree with the duffel bag tied closely to his chest - they had created a make-shift "back-pack" to carry Jordan in while working - Jordan was nestled inside. Murdock put the back-pack on backward so that Jordan was close to his lower chest this way she, being closer to his center of mass and rotation, would be less shaken by his motions.

He looked across the street to see the current situation of his unit. They were all being led by gun-point to the van where they were all ordered to "get in," while one gun-man drove and two others rode in the back with the team. "Great, just great, Jodie. Now what? We don't have any wheels. I guess we gonna have to scrounge - and we don't know who we can and can't trust. Oh, boy." Murdock turned and headed into the thicket behind him hoping to be able to keep an eye on the van from along side the road without being spotted. He knew he didn't have much time before they would be out of sight and next to impossible to follow. He had to think fast. "God, please help me help them," Murdock spoke quietly as he watched the van begin to disappear over the horizon. A few seconds later he reached the top of the ridge and saw the local Forest Service station - it had a helicopter. "Thanks, God," he whispered under his breath. He ran up to the door which was unlocked, but there wasn't anyone there. He saw the helicopter keys hanging on the peg-board. He grabbed a pen and paper and quickly scrawled, "just borrowed it, will bring it back gassed up" and stuck it where the keys had been hung. He raced out to the chopper.

Murdock jumped into the seat and began the start up procedure. He readjusted the back-pack so that Jordan wouldn't be bumping any of the controls and would be as safe as possible. She was crying again. He began to sing again, his mellow voice as smooth as silk soothing the crying child, "Ooohh, I wish I was in the land of cotton, Old times there are not forgotten, look away!," he slipped the headphones on then tried to make some kind of ear protection for Jordan. He pulled out a couple of the squares that they had torn for padding; he folded each into smaller squares, then using his handkerchief he tied them over Jordan's ears. "Time to rock and roll, Jodie, baby," he said. He lifted off and headed in the direction where he had lost sight of his friends.

He could tell Jordan was becoming restless in the make-shift back-pack; he figured that the sudden change in pressure might have bothered her and certainly the noise from the blades hurt her ears some. He continued to sing unintelligible snippets of various songs as he scouted the brushy terrain. He went high so as to attract less attention. He quickly spotted the van as it rounded the bend going out of town to the south-west. "Where we goin' now boys?" he asked no one in particular. He had followed for what he estimated to be about 20 minutes when the van turned off the main road and after another half mile stopped at a large ranch house. He looked quickly for a close place to land; he watched as the men with shot-guns force the team toward the house. He saw a meadow about two clicks from the house - it was perfect.

* * *

As Face stepped into the van, he took a long, nonchalant look around to be sure that Murdock was watching. He caught sight of strange shadows in the tree across the main street. It was a comforting thought.

The bundle cried again. The man behind him said gruffly, "keep that baby quiet."

Face soothed, "Shhhhshshsh, it's OK," and reached down and again readjusted the cloth; immediately the baby stopped crying and soon began to coo once more.

"It's not OK, mister," the original man said frankly. Face exchanged glances with Hannibal and then with B.A. The men kept them separated: Face and the "baby" sat in the back with one gunman while B.A. and Hannibal sat where Face and Murdock usually sat and the third gunman sitting facing them in the rotated front passenger chair.

"B.A., you suppose these slime-balls have any real hair under those toupees?" Hannibal asked. Face rolled his eyes.

"Nah, man," B.A. responded and somehow managed to growl at the same time.

"I didn't think so. They probably lost it all when they climbed out the radioactive sludge that they obviously bathe in," Hannibal commented again, trying to get a reaction. All three team members watched to see what would happen next. Hannibal always enjoyed throwing his enemies off balance by making them angry. Nothing. The three actually seemed amused at the attempt.

`Great,' thought Peck, sarcastically, `these guys don't stir up very easily.' He exchanged another glance with Hannibal and knew he was thinking the same thing. The whole way to the ranch-house the team continues to make remarks aimed at their captors. Nothing worked. By the time they reached the dirt road, Hannibal had quit and began to collect, sort through, and take note of small details. He was working on a plan.

They soon pulled up to the ranch house. "Get out . . . SLOWLY," the "leader" said. They complied. Hannibal, Face, and B.A. were lead across a historic looking porch and then into what looked, to Face, to be a classic southern parlor done in the Victorian style. They all looked around the room, especially taking note of certain objects along the far wall.

"Greetings, gentlemen," a low voice from behind said without emotion.

Part 17:

After Murdock found a place to land for when he returned, he took off headed for Johnstonmanville. The flight would take about ten minutes. Soon he circled above the small store that Hannibal had described to him in detail. The parking lot was almost empty; he landed just outside the entrance to the store. He jumped out and ran inside and found the middle-aged woman that Hannibal had also described well. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said, "You remember that you offered to keep a baby for my friend, Colonel Smith-ers?" Murdock caught himself, Hannibal hadn't used his real name, of course - who would believe a "John Smith?" The woman nodded, "just yesterday, but right now I can't just. . ." she began.

"This is an emergency," Murdock's tone became deadly serious, "Don't worry, we'll pay you for your time and trouble when we come back." Murdock put the "back-pack" down on the counter and dug deep in his pockets and pull out a handful of stuff: marbles, gum, a rabbit's foot, a small rubber chicken leg and a twenty dollar bill. "Look, here's twenty bucks. There will be more when we get back. I gotta go - lives are at stake here," his rushed and urgent manner coupled with the $20 bucks and the smile on the baby's face won the woman over. "I'll be back after work, Jodie," he pulled the baby close once more, kissed her on the forehead, then handed her over to the woman. Without another word Murdock turned and ran out the door to the chopper and took off. Now it was time to help his friends and hopefully put away some "scum-balls" as the colonel would say.

* * *

The team turned around to see an older man in a pinstripe suit, flanked on either side by men with machine guns.

I ask that you give me the baby, NOW," the new man smiled evilly.

The member's looked at each other and silently reached a consensus to give the man the bundle. Face stepped toward the man, that was perhaps ten paces away, with the crying bundle. "Shut it up, NOW," the man said loudly and cruelly. Hannibal and B.A. walked closely behind Face, one on either side. The bundle kept crying, he pretended to try to shush it to no avail. The men were soon within arms length of all the team members. Face looked into the eyes of the "boss" and grinned mischievously.

"You want, `er?" Face asked quickly, then threw the blanket and tape recorder into the face of the man on his left and Hannibal hit the one with the blanket, Face hit the man in the pinstripe suit, and B.A. took the other guard. They took the weapons and headed for the exit. They dashed toward the main entrance; but before they could make good on their escape they were again surrounded by guards.

"They must come out of the wood-work like the cock-roaches they are. OK, guys," Hannibal said, "put `em down." There were ten men surrounding them, all carrying AR-15's - all trained at the team members. Face's sheepish grin quickly disappeared. They put down their weapons slowly, and stood up so that they were all back to back in the center of a circle of killers.

"Oh, boy!" Face said under his breath.

"MOVE - back where you were," one guard ordered, but they never got back to the parlor. Hannibal felt a sharp, sudden pain on the back of his head. He knew they'd hit him, but he couldn't fight the darkness consuming him. He fell, before he completely lost consciousness, he heard two more thuds against the floor; he knew that Face and B.A. had been knocked out as well. Then the blackness pervaded all.

Part 18:

Face awoke to B.A. shouting at the top of his lungs, "I'll make you pay, suckas, you gonna pay!" The searing pain in the back of his head told him that what ever hit him had been somewhat sharp-`probably the butt of the gun,' he thought. "Let me outta here, suckas!" he could hear B.A. bellowing again.

Face looked up to see B.A. pulling on the bars of the cell where they had found themselves upon awaking, "Will ya please be quiet, huh? My head hurts bad enough without you yelling," Face gave B.A. an `indulge me' look, his hand lightly searching the back of his head for a cut he knew was there somewhere. He could see shelves in the shadows about ten feet from the outside of the cell. He sniffed a bit - it seemed awfully musty. `A basement,' he concluded. He and Hannibal were on the concrete floor and B.A. stood at the entrance. The only other thing in the cell, in the very center, was a canvas cot with wooden legs.

B.A. stopped his vain attempt to bend the bars or deafen their captors and turned to look at his two cell mates. Hannibal was puffing thoughtfully on his cigar in the corner, and obviously plotting against their captors. The lieutenant was finally sitting up, still clutching the back of his head and looking a bit groggy.

"Musta been the really big one that hit me," Face said, allowing his hand to fall to his side, but careful not to let his head touch the wall. "You look around ?" he asked, pointing at the ceiling and indicating listening devices.

"As much as we could - nothing that we can see from here," Hannibal answered.

"Come up with any ideas, Colonel?" Peck asked.

"Have you been looking around, Lieutenant?" Hannibal asked in return, wearing a grin that told Face that yes, Hannibal was on the jazz.

"Yeah . . ." he answered expectantly, but cautious, "What do you have in mind?"

"What's the plan, Hannibal?" B.A. quickly questioned in his usual impatient tone.

"You guys remember . . ." Hannibal began. Just then the basement door creaked open. They were all quiet; they quickly positioned themselves as strategically as possible. The cell was only about eight feet wide and ten feet deep. The only source of light was a single, sixty watt light bulb outside the cell. Despite the bars and shadows, the team could make out five figures - two carrying guns on the outside, two holding a third and slumped figure in the center. The two with the guns, who had been the original body guards with the boss, strode up to the cell,

"Put your hands as high as they'll go and your backs against the far wall. MOVE!" said the one on the right. Both gunmen pointed their weapons at the team - so they complied. The door was unlocked, opened, and the sagging figure tossed carelessly onto the cot, and the door slammed behind.

"You boys are lucky for now: the boss is eatin' his brunch. And after his nap he'll deal with ya'll," one taunted. Another cackled evilly. The men left the room much more quickly than they'd come.

Hannibal, Face, and B.A. hurried to the side of their new cell mate, who was moaning softly. They knew almost immediately that their new neighbor was a woman. Her medium length, blonde hair fell, somewhat knotted, off the end of the cot. The woman, laying on her right side, had her left arm and hand resting as close to her body as possible. Face kneeled beside the cot, on the side she was facing; he gently put his right hand on her waist, and delicately brushed the hair out of her face with the other. As he pushed the hair away, they could all see that her face was covered with bruises. Both her eyes were black, as well as her cheeks and jaw.

"What is going on here?" he asked her in a quiet but horrified, tone. `Who could do this?' he thought to himself at the same instant; they could all hear it in his tone. B.A.'s balled his fists with anger, but he said nothing so that the woman would be able to talk in a low tone.

"They want information . . .," the woman managed to say. She tried to sit up, but she was too weak and the movement was too painful. She moaned again and rolled most of the way on to her back.

"You want help sitting up?" Hannibal asked her.

"Yeah," she said quietly and nodded hear head slightly.

"Face, B.A." Hannibal indicated that they would help her up together. Hannibal leaned down from the end of the cot at the woman's head. He put his arms under hers and lifted her up so that she could lean against him and be in the sitting position. She yelped as her left hand hung at an odd angle. B.A. was helping Hannibal pull her closer to him by holding her waist and moving her towards the colonel. Face reached out and supported the wrist that he then immediately inspected.

"Broken," he concluded for the other two men. They all three shared a look that communicated so much that if it would have been spoken - it would have taken hours. The woman was breathing shallowly and quickly. She leaned hard against the now kneeling Hannibal.

"What's your name?" Face asked her in an, again, quiet and reassuring tone. He glanced up to B.A. - `if he gets any madder . . .' his thought was interrupted by the woman answering.

"Nancy Charleston," she answered quietly.

Part 19:

"Careful what you say . . ." she soon added; she pointed to her ear with her good hand and pointed to the ceiling. They knew she meant that listening devices were around. She moaned again. "Is my baby, OK? That's all I want to know," her pleading, blue eyes looking at Face, who was the closest within view.

"Yeah, she's fine" Face answered, hoping that this might comfort her. After a few moments he again asked, "What is going on here?"

"Well, I used to work for the CIA. They want information about a situation that I was assigned to during my time with the company. There are at least three major players, several locals pressed into service when the bosses realized that they didn't have enough hands to do all the dirty work. This town put up a pretty good fight, until they convinced them that if they continued to move against them, they would blow up the town - targeting places where there were lots of people. The people gave in. The town's people have been in slavery for the last month and a half," she explained more easily as the pain became less acute.

"Here, Faceman, here's a couple a things you can use as a splint and your tie will work to wrap it," B.A. handed the lieutenant two large, flat, and thin charms from his collection. Face nodded agreement at the plan.

"What else can you tell us, Nancy? You say `they' - who are they?" Hannibal said. Face put the gold splints down next to him. He was still supporting the broken wrist with his left hand. With his right hand, he took his tie off. He and B.A. worked together and soon had an excellent splint on the woman's wrist.

"'They' are a `league,' they're calling it, of terrorists that don't like democracy. `They' are Richard Manison, Manny Wharton, and Carl Eddisony. They have varying connections: Soviet Communist extremists, Lebanon hit groups, and various other groups that have a bone to pick with the U.S. government. Like I said, they want information that they think that I have because of my CIA history - I'm retired. Two months ago Wharton came to town looking for me and information that they thought that I had. He tried to kidnap Jordan to try to make me talk. I went underground. She was safe. Then I got word that he was closing in on me. It was true, he'd already killed my husband and he was after us. When I saw you I hurried to give Jordan to you; I knew she'd be safe. I ran and he caught me. The rest of the `league' had come after a month - probably unhappy with Wharton's success."

"We saw the arrest document and ID in the local archives - for this `Wharton'. . .most of the other records were gone except for the fire report of a baby born on a fire-truck - it had your name on it." Face interrupted.

"Interesting," she said. They all raised their eyebrows and she pointed to the ceiling.

"Why didn't they just blow up the town in the first place?" Hannibal ask. "They don't seem to have any compunctions about that sort of thing."

"They don't know where the information is - they can't afford that I hid it somewhere that they'd blow it up. I've heard about you guys before - have a plan, Smith?" she asked getting to the point.

"Yeah," he nodded as she looked up at him.

* * * * *

Before he landed he took note of a hidden road through the bushes, that lead to another road to town. After Murdock had landed the helicopter in the clearing that he had seen earlier, he spent about ten minutes gathering brush to cover it - he would more than likely need it to help in the escape later, even though it was about two kilometers from the house. He didn't have a lot of time-`this `ll have to do,' he thought. He hurried off in the direction of the house where he'd seen the team go. He made the two clicks in record time, but he dodged three surveillance cameras, and some somewhat obvious booby traps. When he reached the edge of the brushy cover - he looked around to see what he might could use. He felt Face's revolver in his pocket, "You slimy&hellipyou better not have hurt my friends," he muttered to himself. He saw a small equipment shed off to the back of the house, about a hundred yards south of the main building. `They could be held there, but even if they aren't I'll bet there is something useful in there,' he thought. It would be easy to get to if he skirted around and stayed in the brush. He moved off and was soon in the shed.

Part 20:

No Hannibal, Face, or B.A. - `This means that they are somewhere in the main house, just great,' he thought. He began to dig through some of the boxes on the shelves for tools and anything that might come in handy. `I'll need a distraction,' he began to plan. He turned and saw pipe, fertilizer, and hay. `Make the pipe bombs, set the thing on fire, they come out, I go in,' he continued the process. He began to work - he started with a the strategic positioning of the hay. He begin to think about his own behavior of late. "H.M., boy, you getting soft. You been slackin' off. You've down right normal lately. What's your problem?" he spoke to himself.

"Well, a baby's come into my life . . ." he answered as he dug through some boxes looking for something for fuses, "and I'm adjusting to . . .," he pulled out another box and opened it. "HELLO," he said admiringly as he pulled the guinea pig food from the top. He began to sift through the further contents of the box. He found a what he recognized as a special Federal issue .45, two clips, extra ammo, and about ten sticks of dynamite. He looked quickly through the rest of the boxes, nothing else was very useful. "It's gonna be a hot time in the old town tonight," he said aloud then headed to light the hay. He tossed match into center of the hay. He watched only to be sure that it was going to light properly then he took off for the brush and circled on to the closest the brush came to the house - in the North-West. While they were fighting the fire in the south, he'd be sneaking in from another direction.

* * *

Face smiled, pleased, "this is gonna be fun." He'd just finished inspecting the lock on the cell door. He took his belt off and begin to bend the prong on his buckle. He reached through the bars and began to use it as a lock pick. He worked patiently with it for almost a whole minute. He started to sing, "You are my sunshine . . ." Hannibal quickly joined in, knowing that the point was to make it impossible for the listening devices to pick up the sound of the lock or the door, opening. ". . .My only sunshine . . .," they harmonized as Face swung to door open. B.A. helped Nancy up. They ran over to the shelves where chemicals for the ranch and house were being stored.

"Good thing, I liked chemistry," Nancy said and began to pull various chemicals from the shelf. She was more spirited now, and Face could have sworn that had she known what it meant, Nancy would have been on the Jazz, too.

* * *

By the time he got around, he could see smoke from the shed in the back. Then he ran to the porch where only one guard had be posted. He grabbed him with one arm around the neck, pointed the .45 to his head and asked roughly, "where are the men that were brought in this morning?"

"In the house, in the b-b-b-basem-m-m-ment," he stuttered, "the k-k-keys `re on the n-n-knob."

"Thank you. May you sleep well," Murdock said and hit him over the head with the pistol. "Can't have you saying anything about this to anyone." He pulled him of the porch and rolled him underneath it. He cautiously opened the door. As he'd hoped everyone had gone out to stop the fire. He heard someone yell from the stairs in the next room,

"They're up to something down there!" the voice called. But no one seemed to hear. He peeked around the corner just in time to see a thug open the door to, what he assumed was the basement. An odd smoke curled out; it smelled awful. Then as he ran to punch the man, he saw B.A. come out of the smoke and do exactly as Murdock had intended. He hit him; the man fell to the floor unconscious. Hannibal and Face weren't far behind, but they seemed to be helping someone else. He rushed up, the woman looked up at him - "Nancy?" he asked, shocked.

Part 21:

"H.M." Nancy greeted him pleasantly.

"You know her, Murdock?" Face asked, pointing at the woman.

"Questions later - move it!" Hannibal ordered as he stooped to pick up the gun from the now unconscious man. Murdock handed the revolver to Face and the one he'd found in the shed to Nancy, who took it with her good hand. Nancy was well enough now to only need occasional help from the guys. Face took point, Nancy next, then Murdock who was there in case she needed him, and B.A. and Hannibal followed. They carefully went out on the porch then ran to their van-- it wasn't parked far away. They all jumped in about the time the fire had been put out and the men began to return to the main house. They ran after them; soon there was a jeep following at a hundred yards. Murdock pulled two rifles out of the back, and Hannibal took one and shot the Jeep's front right tire. It, now flat, pulled the diver off the main part of the dirt road, he hit an angled rock, and flipped. There would be more soon enough, but for now, they were safe.

They zoomed along the road - "Turn right at that next tree," Murdock told B.A. "Nancy Mirtain?" he asked, smiling as he turned to the woman.

"Yeah, actually it's `Charleston' now - I recognized you're friend here," pointing at Face, "in the diner, as a member of the A-Team. I always trusted you, but I always had my suspicions about your relationship with them."

"Why didn't you say something more in your note that you left with Jordan?" Murdock asked.

"I had no time - I saw the league's men coming - I thought they would kill me - I scribbled the last sentence and ran, hoping to draw attention away from Jordan," she looked up at him.

He looked up to see where they were on the road, "Stop on the next curve, Big Guy," he told B.A. He brushed the hair out of her face in much the same manner that the lieutenant had done earlier. He then saw the bruises and split lip. "Did those monsters back there do this to you?" he asked, his tone angry. She shook her head yes and looked at the floor. "Hannibal, we gonna have to fillet and sauté these toe-jam eaters," he said, angry.

Nancy smiled at his disgusting description, which is exactly what he'd hoped to accomplish. He smiled at her, reassuringly.

"Murdock, would you explain . . ." Face started to ask about the whole situation.

"Not now, Faceman - Later. Right now we gotta, sink these spaghetti for brains," Murdock said.

The van came to a halt; a helicopter sat somewhat hidden in the brush. "I ain't flyin', man!" B.A. said emphatically.

"You don't have to, Big Guy, Nancy and me, we gonna meet you at that barn, Hannibal. We'll give you air support, just in case you need it. Just follow this road back to the main highway. See you there," he said, and jumped out.

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